Our People

Head of Business Development and Marketing

Alistair McDonald is the Head of Business Development and Marketing at HR Assured and our parent company, FCB Group.

‘I started my career in the finance sector. After a few years, I moved across to professional services, where I worked in mid-tier, top-tier and boutique law firms. Although I enjoyed working with lawyers, I increasingly came to the conclusion that the traditional model law firms used to service and bill their clients was fundamentally flawed. At the same time, I could see that it was going to take a long time for the larger firms to respond to the need to change and get away from time-based billing. I was particularly keen to join FCB Group because it wasn’t just a law firm. Of course, FCB Workplace Law is one of the most highly regarded employment practices in the country, however, FCB Group also has workplace consulting and technology arms. In a sense, it lives and breathes its boast that it truly is a business that is multi-disciplinary and delivers holistic people solutions. This excited me because I was keen to work for a firm that was living in the 21st century and interested in exploring better ways of servicing its clients.’

Alistair has been extensively involved in developing the business model behind HR Assured. He has strong commercial instincts and a gift for understanding exactly what clients want and need from professional service providers.

‘No one goes into business because they want to spend their days dealing with people issues. Yes, business owners want to work with the best people in order to reach their goals, but as you build a business, you don’t want to find yourself distracted because you are spending an enormous amount of time dealing with HR issues but nor do you want to bury your head in the sand and take the “she’ll be right mate” approach. The last thing a business owner wants is to find yourself staring down the barrel of a gun because a workplace relations issue has spun out of control and you now have to retain an expensive team of lawyers to clean up the mess. Businesses need a cost-effective way of managing their workplace relations.’

‘I am excited by HR Assured because we have cherry picked the most crucial services and products provided to clients by FCB Group (workplace relations consulting, technology and legal advice) and now offer those to clients on a subscription, rather than fee-for-service, basis. Put simply, this means we are providing our clients with a Mercedes Benz service for the price of a Toyota. That is a wonderful thing to be able to offer our clients.’

Alistair’s principal role at HR Assured is to ensure that we are delivering a service to our clients that benefits their businesses in a very practical way. This involves listening to them to find out exactly what they need to ensure their businesses run smoothly and, in turn, help them to keep growing. At the same time, he is responsible for ensuring that clients understand exactly what HR Assured’s suite of products can do for their businesses. He supervises our team of Business Development Managers and makes sure they explain to prospective clients exactly what HR Assured can do for their businesses.